


Two Weeks on Floor 507

by Es_Aitch



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: s10e12 The Doctor Falls, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-03-10 18:17:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13507113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Es_Aitch/pseuds/Es_Aitch
Summary: My take on some of those time-skips in “The Doctor Falls.”





	1. Chapter 1

“Bill’s back!” Nardole exclaimed with a smile to his features.  The Master grumbled.  “How sentimental.”

Behind him, Missy could allow herself a small smile.  She hadn’t wanted to leave the Doctor behind, but as she had told him earlier, she was of two minds.  It was a paradox for her in more ways than one.

Nardole slowly lowered the shuttle until they were at such a level that Bill could lift the Doctor into it and then clamber in after him.  He was conscious for now, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t last long.  Once Nardole ensured that Bill was secure in the holding bay, he went to move the Doctor into a safer location.  “Noooo!”

The Cyber-voice stopped him in his tracks.  He knew it was Bill, but the voice was just as horrible as any of the Cybermen he had ever encountered.  He took a breath and as calmly as possible, turned to Bill and spoke softly.  “Bill, I have to secure him.  We’re going to be bursting through as many floors as we can.”

“Iii will keeep him safe.”

Nardole sighed.  “Bill, it’ll be better for him to be in a…” 

“Iii will prooo-tect him.”

Nardole didn’t want to fight with her.  “Okay how will you do that?”

“Puuuut him in my aaarms.”

“Bill, that’s not…”

Her tone was more insistent.  “Puuuut him in my aaarms.”

The Doctor’s voice broke through.  “Let her, Nardole.”

He shook his head at the two of them.  “You two’ll be the death of me someday.”

He first made sure that Bill was strapped into the seat she had taken.  Then he helped the Doctor out of his seat and into Bill’s lap.  He was sitting across her legs.  She cradled him and wrapped her arms around him.  Tight enough to keep him secure, but loose enough to not cause additional injury to him.

Nardole again shook his head at the pair, but went back to the cockpit to pilot the shuttle.

Alone and safe as they could be, the Doctor reached up and touched the cheek of the Cyberman who used to be his friend Bill.  Was his friend Bill.  “I’ll find a way.  I’ll set this right.”

“Doooc-tor.  Rest.”

“Told you, sleep is for tortoises.”

“Youuu are iiiin-jured.  Rest.”

The Doctor smirked sardonically.  “Well, if you put it like that.”

He couldn’t have held on to consciousness any longer, even if he had to.  The imperative to enter a healing rest was too strong to fight.  His eyes rolled back and the outside world was lost to him.  His head came to rest against Bill’s shoulder.

Bill held him as carefully as she could, though, she was metal now.  Of course, not as hard metal as the Cybermen would have one day, but metal nonetheless.  She hoped it wouldn’t hurt him too much.  

The shuttle shuttered and tossed the passengers around as it burst through each floor.  Bill did her best to protect the Doctor from the worst of it.  It was about forty minutes later when he came to consciousness.  He didn’t tense at discovering he was held by a Cyberman.  While he saw the shell of the Cyberman like anyone else, he also could see that it was certainly Bill.  He was determined to help her hold on to herself as much as he could.

“Bill.  You waited for me.”

“Doooc-tor.  I’m aliiive.”

“Yes.  Yes, you are.  I plan to keep you that way.”

He had no plan; no idea what he would do, but he was going to set this right.  He was not going to lose someone else.  If he could save Nardole from the body of Hydroflax, he could save Bill.  He was the Doctor, that’s what he did.  What he _would_ do.

“I’m sorry.  I…”

“Rest, Doooc-tor.”

He hummed in reply and lost consciousness again.

When the ship came crashing down, Bill was glad the Doctor wasn’t strapped in because she could easily move him, but it took her a few extra moments to figure out how to get out of her own restraints without jostling him about too much.  Finally, she was free and as carefully as she could, gathered the Doctor in such a way as she could carry him.  She hadn’t expected to still be the first one out of the ship, but then the holding bay she had been in was closest to the way out.

Alit took a few more steps back away from the strange group of five.  The metal creature wasn’t what scared her.  It was the body the creature was carrying.  Nardole bent down to her level and offered his hand.  “I’m Nardole.  What’s your name?”

She stopped backing up and offered her hand to him.  “Alit.” 

He smiled.  “Good to meet you.  Now, are there any grown-ups about?  And maybe a car or something?”

Alit wasn’t sure what a ‘car’ was, but she nodded.  She was still staring at the creature and Nardole picked up on it.  “Oh, don’t worry about her.  That’s Bill.”

Alit shook her head and pointed at the Doctor.  “Is he… dead?”

Nardole turned to look again at Bill carrying the Doctor.  “Him?  No.  That’s the Doctor, but he’s hurt very badly.  Do you think you can help us?”

She nodded her head, “I’ll be right back,” and took off running as fast as her legs could carry her.

The Master groaned at Nardole.  “Really?  You’re going to ask the natives for help?  They probably don’t even know what a Cyberman is!”

Nardole glared at him.  “Oh?  Have you got a better idea?”

Missy didn’t want to annoy her younger self, but she chimed in.  “No, he doesn’t.  And neither do I.  So, what do we do while we wait?”

The Doctor’s voice broke in.  “You could stop talking and let me rest.”

Bill looked down at him and up at the others.  His voice sounded so weak and Nardole rushed over to him to start looking him over.  “I hope they hurry, he needs tending to.”  Then he looked at the pair of Masters.  “Don’t suppose either of you know any Time Lord first aid?”

They stared back at him silently.  He sighed and shook his head.  “Of course you don’t.  Hold on Doctor, we’ll get you help as soon as we can.”

It was about twenty minutes later when they heard the rumbling of a wagon approaching.  Bill had stood like a sentinel holding the Doctor and guarding him as best she could.  It was another three minutes before the wagon was close enough for everyone to see each other.  The people in the wagon aimed their weapons at Bill.  Nardole stood in front of them, his arms raised in a manner to stop them.  “No! Wait!  Don’t shoot, you might hit the Doctor.”

The people didn’t pull their triggers, but they didn’t put their guns down either.  It was honestly more than Nardole had hoped.  He gestured that everyone else should stay back and he approached the wagon first.  He smiled, “Hello, Alit.”  Then he addressed the adults.  “I’m Nardole.  We’ve come from Floor 1056.  We were being chased by Cybermen and the unconscious man there, that’s the Doctor, he needs medical attention.”

One of the men in the cart spoke up, keeping his gun aimed at Bill.  “Is that one of those? A cyberman you called it?  You’ve brought them all here!  They’ll kill us all now.”

The Doctor groaned softly as he regained consciousness again.  “We’ll help you fight them.  Bill, she wants to help.  But I can’t help anyone like this.  Please.”

It was Alit who spoke up next.  “I believe them.  Please, if there’s anything we can do to help them, I believe they’ll help us too.”

The adults gave each other knowing looks, but finally nodded, and allowed the others to help the Doctor into the wagon.  Even the Master and Missy helped.  Secretly, they both knew that the Doctor was right, he was really the only one that could save them.  Nardole, Missy, and the Master took places once the Doctor was settled.  As Bill was about to climb in the man again took up his gun.  “Not you.  You can walk behind.”

Bill hung her head, but did as she was told.  One of the natives kept a gun aimed at her the entire trip.

The ride back to the house was worse for the Doctor than the shuttle breaking through all the floors.  There was only so much the straw and blankets could do to protect him.  Bill had done well in protecting him.  Still it gave him time to think.  He had to figure out a way to save her, but he needed time and given the way the people reacted to her, he wasn’t going to get enough of it.

When they reached the house, there were even more people with guns.  There was a woman who seemed to be a matriarch of some kind.  She was in front of the rest.  She yelled out.  “You!  Metal thing!  You stop right there.  Only the wagon can approach.”

Bill stopped and put her arms up as much as she could.  She was more scared than upset at being called a ‘thing’. 

The little bit of rest the Doctor got on the ride back was enough.  He could only come up with one way to buy him the time he needed.  He didn’t know how much time he would need and didn’t know if there was enough of her brain left for telepathy to work, but he had to try.  “Nardole, help me.”

The round man bent down and helped the Doctor to sit up.  “What are you going to do?”

The Doctor looked around, analysing the farm and people around him as quickly as he could.  That made the decision for him.  He would have to keep Bill safe and put the people’s fears at ease.  He had to act quickly.  “Help me out of the cart.  You two, stay put.  Let me do this.”

Nardole glared at the pair of Masters as he helped the Doctor, he would take them out himself if they screwed this up.  The Doctor approached the woman with Nardole’s help.  “I’m the Doctor.  This is Nardole.  What’s your name?”

“Ha-hazran.”

He nodded.  “Okay.  I don’t have much time, before I collapse again.  But we need your help and in return we’ll help you.  That metal creature is my friend, Bill.  I know she scares you.  Is there anything we can do to prove to you that she’s a friend?”

Hazran thought about it for a minute.  She looked around at all the people around her.  The man, Doctor he had called himself, was gravely wounded and needed immediate help, but there was no way she was going to let that creature into her home.  “The barn.  We can lock it in the barn.”

Nardole gasped.  “Doctor we can’t, that’s Bill she…”

“Hush!” The Doctor ordered.  He looked at Hazran.  “Okay.  The barn.  I need to talk to her, though.  Let me explain it to her.  I can make it so she won’t cause any trouble.”

Hazran pursed her lips in thought, but finally nodded.  The Doctor was clearly losing his balance and Nardole had to work a bit to keep him upright.  He leaned forward.  “Thank you.”  He looked at Nardole.  “Help me to Bill.”  He gave further instructions as they approached her.  “Let me handle this.  But, walk behind.  I’m going to need help getting from the barn back to the house.”

Nardole knew it was serious then.  The Doctor never admitted to needing help and at this point, he was constantly asking for it.  “What are you going to do?”

“Help her to rest.  Add some protection to her mental barriers.  She’s still her and I plan to keep her.”

Nardole didn’t like the sound of that, but given the Doctor’s injuries, he also knew the Doctor was only doing what was absolutely necessary.  They approached Bill.  The Doctor left Nardole’s aid and came to stand in front of her alone.

“Miss Potts.” He offered her his arm.  “Join me for a short stroll?”

“Hellllp you to walllllk, you mean.”

His cheek pulsed in a mournful mimic of a smile.  “Yes.  That.”

Bill offered the Doctor her arm and leant down a little so that it was at a good height for him.  He gratefully took it.  He gestured towards the barn.  “We’ll just go there so we can talk alone for a minute.”

He gave a glance behind him and was glad to see Nardole following behind. 

He led them to the barn and was able to get Bill inside without her suspecting anything.  He was grateful for that.  Once they were inside, he gestured to a pile of straw.  “Bill, sit, please.”

It would be the only way he could reach her head.  Again, she did so without protest.  Which, if the Doctor were honest and alert enough to interpret the actions, should have concerned him.  As it was, he was just glad.  “You want me to rest.  And you’re right, I need to rest.  But it’s hard for me to do that when I’m worried about you.”

“Whyyy would you worrry for me?  Iii am fine!”

“Well, yes, I can see why you’d think that.  But, you need rest too.  You’ve been through a lot recently.”  He paused and looked at the floor and spoke quietly.  “I can help you to rest.”  He raised his head enough to meet her eyes.  “Would you let me?  Let me help you rest?”

“Telll me how.”

He sighed softly.  “I can put your mind to sleep.  If you’re sleeping, then I can sleep.  Would you let me do that?”

“Youuu won’t touch the memmmories?”

“No, I won’t do a mind wipe, I promise.”

“Okaaay.”

The Doctor honestly hadn’t expected it to be that easy.  But then, Bill trusted him.  So, on the other hand, he wasn’t surprised either.  He couldn’t give her time to change her mind, so he reached his hands up and rested them around the head where the metal was thinnest.  He hoped he could make enough of a connection to do what he needed to do.  He closed his eyes and focused.  There was one small chink.  It was barely noticeable to anyone else, but he could use it to get in.  He smiled and gave the command, “Sleep.”

He released her head and allowed Bill to slump into the pile of hay.  “I’m sorry, Bill.  I’ll find a way to make this right.”

He knew he didn’t have much time.  He walked out of the barn and collapsed into Nardole’s arms.


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor was far heavier than he looked, especially as a collapsed pile of dead weight.  Nardole wouldn’t be able to carry him.  He looked around and called out to the woman.  “Hazran!  I need some help.”

Hazran looked over at Nardole and started to give instructions to the others.  “You lot, with me. Bring a blanket, we’re going to have to carry him inside.  You,” she pointed at one of the men, “bring a gun, you’re going to stand guard.”

Hazran and the six men came towards Nardole.  She took control of the situation.  “Right, you, lock the barn and stand at the door.  If that thing tries to break out, shoot it.”

Nardole thought briefly about protesting, but decided it wasn’t worth it.  He muttered to himself.  “Pick your battles.”

She brought the strong wool blanket over to the Doctor and spread it out on the ground.  “Okay, lower him in the centre of the blanket.” 

Nardole did as he was told.  She then, with a gentleness that didn’t match her voice that gave the orders, made sure the Doctor was properly situated on it.  “Okay, one of you on each corner and one each on the sides.”

The five men and Nardole took their positions.  Nardole took one of the corners near the Doctor’s head.  Once they were in their proper places Hazran nodded at them.  “Okay on three.  One.  Two.  Three.”

Each person took their part of the blanket and raised it up.  Nardole gave a sigh of relief.  The Doctor was much lighter with six of them carrying him rather than one.  He pulled a face and looked down at the skinny man when he realised just how heavy the Doctor was if that was the case.

Hazran led the group up the stairs and into the house.  “We’ll put him in the medical room down here.”

She continued down the hall and when she got to the room, she gestured that the group should enter.  “Gently.  Gently, now.  Let’s place him on the bed.”

The little group was able to arrange themselves around the bed without having to set the Doctor down and pick him back up.  They then lowered him onto the bed.  Hazran nodded in approval.  “Right, you lot, out.  I’ll see to his injuries.”

Nardole was frozen in place, he just stared at the Doctor.  Then he came to a realisation: the Master and Missy!  He looked up at the group as they started to leave.  “Wait!  The other two who came with us.  The woman with the hair, her name is Missy and the man with the beard, his name is the Master.  Keep an eye on them.  Don’t let them in the barn and don’t let them near the Doctor unless I’m here.”

Hazran nodded that the group should do as Nardole said and then shooed them out.  She decided not to make the round man leave.  He seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on with the strange little group.  She approached the bed and started to do her best to make the Doctor comfortable.  “You seem to know him, what do we do?”

Nardole had gotten lost in his head again and her question pulled him out.  “I think he’ll mostly heal himself.  He was electrocuted by one of the Cybermen.  Bill saved him.  I think if we make him comfortable and tend to the wounds we can see, he will just need rest.”

Hazran nodded and started to move around the room, looking to see what supplies she had.  Now the she knew what she was dealing with, she could help properly.  “Right, while I get things, you get him out of all those clothes.  He can probably stay in his pants.  There’s a night shirt around here that we can dress him in once we’ve tended to his injuries.”

Nardole bit his lip for a moment.  The Doctor wore a lot of layers and he didn’t think the man would appreciate others changing his clothes.  Still, he wasn’t going to be able to do anything, so Nardole was glad it was him instead of the Master Twins.  He spoke to the Doctor as he started.  “I’m sorry, I know you’re a bit private, but you can’t do this for yourself.”

He started by unbuttoning the vest, then he loosened the belt, and untucked the shirt.  He then started to unbutton the shirt.  He thought it might be easiest to sit the Doctor up once and take all the layers off rather than doing it multiple times.  When he was ready he spoke aloud, hoping that the woman was still in the room.  “Hazran, help me sit him up.”

She put some of the items she had gathered on a small table next to the bed.  “Right.  What do you want me to do?”

“You support that side, but let me do most of the lifting, he’s not as light as he looks.”

When they were in position, they counted to three and together sat the Doctor up.  Nardole spoke again.  “Go ahead and take off the top layers while I support him.”

“Yes, yes.  I know.”  Hazran worked quickly, but carefully.  It was obvious to Nardole that she had done this many times.  So, not only the matriarch, but the nurse of the compound as well.

The three loose top layers quickly landed on the floor.  While she was at that, she slid the belt out from around the grey-haired man’s waist.  Finally, she moved most of the blanket from under where he had been lying down.

Nardole looked at the Doctor and saw that there was another layer.  He sighed and questioned the unconscious man.  “Another layer?”

“Stop grousing, now that he’s sat up, it shouldn’t be too hard.”

Hazran was right.  They had to juggle the Doctor a little, but they were able to get the pullover off fairly easily.  “Okay, I’ve moved most of the blanket and the top sheet, we’ll be able to cover him once we’ve had a look at his injuries.”

They gently laid him back on the bed.  Hazran was intentionally ignoring any wounds she saw.  They had to get him undressed before she could tend to them.  But she sighed.  The trousers weren’t going to be as easy, she didn’t think.  Nardole spoke up as he undid the button and zip on the trousers.  “I’ll lift him at the hips.  You pull the trousers off and move the blankets.”

She nodded that she was ready.  It wasn’t as difficult as she thought, but she didn’t think it was too comfortable for the Doctor.  She let the thought go, when the man didn’t seem any the wiser what was being done to him.  Together Nardole and Hazran worked on the shoes and socks.  She did a quick scan to make sure she could see as much of the Doctor’s body as she could.  “I think his pants can stay on.”

As she spoke, she saw a glow come from the Doctor’s body.  She gasped and backed away.  “Merciful heavens, what was that?”

Nardole moved closer to the Doctor once the light faded.  “No, no, no.  Don’t you do that.  Don’t you dare.  We need you.  I can’t help these people if I’m going to have to worry about what you’ll be like too.”

Hazran didn’t understand, but if the round man was near the unconscious man, she figured it must be safe enough.

Nardole sighed.  “It’s healing energy, that’s all.  Just be careful.  If he glows like that again, back away.  I don’t know what it might do to humans.”

Hazran was still in shock, but nodded.  She could understand enough to know not to touch someone when they were glowing.  Now, she was able to assess the Doctor’s injuries properly.  There was a nasty gash on his head, but it had stopped bleeding, so she would only have to clean it up and put a small bandage on it to keep it clean.  Across his chest, though, the burn marks looked terrible.  They seemed to encircle the man like... “Arms.  How could arms do that to him?”

Nardole looked up at Hazran and offered a small smile.  “Impressive.  Yes.  The cyberman had wrapped his arms around the Doctor to hold him as it electrocuted him.”

“Oh, you poor dear.  I can’t imagine what his back must look like.”

Nardole shook his head.  “I don’t think we’ll have to.  The Cybermen have bands around their arms that produce the electrical charge.  It should just be the wounds you can see.”

She pursed her lips.  She didn’t like that she couldn’t do more, but the man was right, there was plenty she could do.  “Here,” she handed him a small basin of water with a small flannel, “you clean up his head wound and I’ll start on these.”

Nardole did as he was told, as Hazran tried to see just how bad the burns were.  “Do we need to worry about concussion or anything like that?”

“No.  I think if we can make him as comfortable as possible, it’ll be enough.  He mostly needs rest.”

Hazran gasped as a realisation struck her suddenly.  “Electrical charge!”  She hovered her hand over the centre of the Doctor’s chest where the burn marks looked worse.  “His heart!”  She quickly reached over for a stethoscope and put it on.  “I’m sorry if this hurts, but we’ve got to check.”

She placed it on his chest over where she knew his heart should be and she pulled a face when it didn’t sound right.

“He’s got two, one on each side.”  Nardole offered helpfully.

Hazran looked up at him in shock.  “Two hearts?  So he’s not human?”

“Was it the glow that gave it away?”  Nardole’s response was automatic, when he realised what he had said he offered a sheepish smirk.  “Sorry.”

She shook her head at him.  “It’s fine.  Just this is all a bit new to me.”  She put the stethoscope back onto the Doctor’s chest, just on the left side this time.  Then she moved it to the right and listened again.  She pulled a face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, I don’t know.  Are they supposed to beat the same or different?  I don’t know how they’re supposed to sound.”

“You know how with humans, there are two beats?  Sounds kind of like ‘lub-dub’?”  She nodded.  “A Time Lord’s should be just slightly syncopated.  Like ‘lub-lub-dub-dub’.”

Hazran still looked confused.  She handed the stethoscope to him.  “You’d better listen.  It doesn’t sound quite like that to me.  And it seems you have a better idea what to listen for.”

Nardole took the item but shook his head.  “Everything I know is just scant bits of information.  I’ve never had to put it into practice before.”

He put the stethoscope to the Doctor’s chest and listened.  Hazran was right to look concerned, it did not sound at all what it had sounded like the one time on Darillium that he had been allowed to listen.  “The shock must have changed the beat of one of the hearts.  I need to fix it.  Stay here with him, I have to go back to the shuttle.”

He was an idiot!  He should have grabbed the emergency supplies while he was there.  “Keep an eye on him, I’ll be back as quick as I can.”

Hazran nodded as Nardole left.

He came out of the room, he would need a helper.  He called out, “Alit!” 

A few moments later, she came running to him.  “What is it?”

“I’m going to need your help.  Do you think you can come with me back to the ship?”

She looked scared.  “It’s getting dark.  It’s not safe at night.”

“My friend needs medical help.  We have some supplies on the ship, I just need someone to come with me.”

She nodded.  “Okay, they’ve already put the horses to bed for the night, but we might be able to get one.”

Getting the horse saddled was easy.  Getting Nardole onto said horse was a bit of a challenge.  But they finally got him on and Alit settled in front of him.  The pair set off at a rapid trot, not quite a gallop, since Nardole didn’t want either of them to fall off.

The Doctor was doing well enough, both hearts were beating, he just needed another shock to put them back into their proper rhythm.  So, Nardole took a little additional time at the shuttle to grab more than just medical supplies.  Not a lot more, they could get anything else in the morning, but there were a few things he considered vital, he was the computer guy, after all. 

Alit was right about the dark and Nardole knew they had to get back.  She proved to be a good helper and soon, they had their bags packed, and were on their way.  This time, he told her to hold tight and they were going to go a little faster.  The horse they had been given, Mars, proved to be an excellent beast and they were able to make it back in ten minutes.

Nardole left Mars and Alit with the husbandry and he ran indoors to check on the Doctor.  He tapped quietly at the door just to announce his presence before he entered.  He took in the Doctor, while he had been away, Hazran had tended to the wounds, but she still looked worried.  “Hello, Hazran.  I’m back.  I brought some equipment.  How is he?”

Hazran nodded.  “Sleeping.  I think peacefully.  I don’t think we have anything else for these wounds.  I’ve bandaged them and we can keep them clean and dry.  I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.”  Nardole pulled a face when he realised that probably didn’t make sense to her.  He spoke as he unpacked one of the bags.  “I mean, that is more than we could have done for him on our own.”

She raised an eyebrow.  “You have more technology than we do.”

“Yeah, I can hopefully get his hearts in the right rhythm again, but I wouldn’t have had the patience to do what you’ve done so far.”

She looked at him and offered a smile.  “Can he really help us?  Protect us from those creatures?”

“If anyone in the universe can, it’s him.”

He got the devices set up and used the computer to do a little bit of reprogramming from human to Time Lord.  He didn’t want to shock the heart if he didn’t have to.  He placed a couple of pads on the Doctor’s chest and plugged them into the machine.

“It’s going to analyse his hearts rhythm.  Don’t touch him.”

The machine announced, “Shock advised, stand clear.”

A moment later the Doctor’s body convulsed as the charge was administered.  Nardole looked at the readout on the computer and smiled.  “Wow.  Got it in one.  I’m not usually that lucky.”

He took the pads off the unconscious man in the bed.  Hazran came closer again.  “So, his hearts are in the right rhythm now?”

Nardole nodded.  Then he handed her the stethoscope.  “Take a listen, that way you’ll know how they should sound in the future.”

She did.  “Kind of like a horse galloping.”

Nardole grinned.  “I never would have thought of that.  Yeah, that’s a good way to explain it.”

“Help me cover him up.  I don’t want to put the nightshirt on him right now, we’ve moved him too much today.”

Nardole couldn’t argue with that.  They pulled the sheets and blankets up to his chin and made sure he was tucked in.  She then took the chair next to the bed.  “I’ll sit with him a bit.  You’ve had a long day.”

He looked over at her.  “Are you sure?”  She nodded.  “Okay, well I should go check on the other two and give them an update.”

He started to leave when Hazran spoke again.  “Nardole?  Will he really be okay?”

Nardole nodded.  “I promised to make sure of it.  I’m not going to let a few injuries make a liar out of me.”


	3. Chapter 3

Nardole closed the bedroom door and went to check on Missy and the Master.  He hoped he found Missy first.  He didn’t like the Master at all and while Missy seemed to lose herself around her younger self, Nardole knew a part of her was conflicted.  He could work with that, but probably not when she was around the other.

As his luck would have it, he encountered the Master first.  He was in a room off to the side that faced the barn and he was staring intently at it.  Nardole approached him.  “You know, you could help the Doctor rather than thinking about ways to destroy the humans.”

“I’m not thinking about that.  I’m trying to estimate how long it will take the Cybermen to figure out we’re here.  Are you sure the floors resealed themselves after we broke through?”

“Of course I am.  They would only have been able to get to one or two floors behind us at the rate we were going.  And that’s only if they already had the ability to fly, which I don’t think they did yet.”

The Master mocked him.  “ _’Don’t think they did yet.’_   You do realise that isn’t at all reassuring!”

“It’s the best I can offer.  We’ve been here a few hours and they haven’t found us yet, so I’d say we’re safe until we somehow signal to them we’re here.”

“They’re scanning for our hearts beats.  That should really be enough.”

Nardole shrugged.  “Except they’re just beginning.  Their ability to scan is fairly limited and by the time that it catches up, we’ll be ready for them.”

The Master sneered.  “You hope.”

“I don’t have any other option right now.  You’re rather grumpy, maybe you should go take a nap.”

“I think I’d rather explore.”

Nardole sighed and shook his head.  Then he made his way along, hoping he’d find Missy.  He found her sitting in the back of the unhitched wagon keeping a careful eye on the guard placed outside of the barn.

“You won’t get in there, sorry.”

She rolled her eyes.  “I don’t want to go in _there_.  I’m just making sure the primitives don’t do anything stupid.”

Nardole raised an eyebrow at that.  “Are you saying you care about Bill?”

“What? No.  Never.  Maybe.  A little.  I don’t know.  Something Junior said.”

Nardole didn’t want to waste this chance.  “What?  What did he say?”

“That the Doctor would never forgive me for doing that to her.”

Nardole sighed heavily.  “But you didn’t.  _He_ did.”

“We’re the same.  So it hardly matters.”

“Look, I don’t know a lot about regeneration, but I do know the Doctor.  And he knows, even I know, that you’ve tried to do something he never could.”

Missy turned her head to look at the round man.  “What’s that?”

“Change.  You’ve tried to change.  And not just to save your own skin, I mean, sure it might have started that way, but like you always said, you didn’t have to stay.  You made that choice every day.”

“For all the good it’s done.  Being here, now, with him.  It’s hard.  I feel divided.”

Nardole offered a sympathetic smile.  “I’ve got an answer for that.  At least a temporary one.”

“Oh?”  Missy’s expression became so hope-filled, that Nardole gasped in surprise, “What would that be?  Tell me, please.”

“Go to the Doctor.  Sit with him.”

She huffed.  “As if you’d leave me alone for five minutes with him.”

“Missy, please.  The Doctor needs you.  He needs his oldest friend now more than ever.”

“Why would you trust me?”

Nardole gave a knowing glance.  “Because you now have something that you could never have had when you were younger.  You have all that time with the Doctor.  Before he figured out how to unlock the Vault and after.  You still have all of that.  Goatee can’t take that away from you.”

“And… you’d let me have time with him?”

“Well, some of that are up to the people, but I’ll do my best to do that.  Just… I’d go now before the younger one realises what you’ve decided.”

She offered a curt nod and turned to head back to the house. 

Nardole sighed, and then remembered that Hazran wouldn’t know about this conversation.  He ran to catch up.  “Better let me go first.”

“Why?”

“Because while I don’t mind giving you this chance, I think the people here might not look too kindly on you.  I’ve worked on getting to know their matriarch.  I think she’ll listen to me.”

“Right.  Well, off you pop.”

Nardole skirted ahead.  He entered the house and immediately went back to the Doctor’s room.  He knocked quietly, just so he wouldn’t startle the Doctor or Hazran.  She turned to look at him with a small smile.  “Back already?  Don’t you trust me?”

“Oh, no.  Nothing like that.  I just… Well, one of the others is going to come visit him.  I just wanted you to know it was okay.  Her name is Missy.  And if you could give them some time alone, I think… Well, it would be good for both of them.”

“You didn’t sound like you trusted them earlier.”

He twisted his lips in thought for a moment.  “I don’t trust those two together.  But, she’ll be here, with the Doctor.  I think, it might be the best place for her.”

Hazran hummed in thought.  “All right.  If you think so.  I’ll still stay close, just in case anything happens.”

“Not too close.  The Doctor and her…  They’ve got a complicated relationship.  Some things are best left unheard by anyone else.”

With that, he gave a nod of his head and left the room.  He was going to need to find a place to sleep.

It wasn’t long before Missy found her way to the Doctor’s room.  She swooped in without knocking, startling Hazran.  She was about to be overly flamboyant, but everything seemed to drain from her when she saw the Doctor tucked into bed.  She blanched.  Hazran started to speak, “Are you…”

“Get out.”  Was all the taller woman said.

Hazran gave a worried glance to the Doctor.  “We’ve done all we can for him tonight…

“GET.  OUT!”

Hazran gasped but hurried out of the room.

Missy went to the door and was disappointed to find no locking mechanism.  She lent her ear against it and was grateful when she couldn’t hear anyone close by.  She turned back around and leant on the door as she considered the Doctor.  It took her some minutes before she could finally move and sit in the chair beside his bed.

From her perspective, the Doctor looked terrible.  There were certain expectations about wounded Time Lords, the Doctor in particular, that she held and he was falling utterly short of them.  She narrowed her eyes, trying to gauge if he could sense her presence.  She didn’t touch him, though.  Since her time in the Vault, touch between them had come to mean something specific.  They were always intentional about it now, as they had been in their childhood.  She knew that was why he had backed away from her when she had reached out to him when they had their conversation on the TARDIS after leaving Scotland. 

That thought propelled her from the door and she sat down in the chair.  She watched him in silence for a long while.  His hands twitched and then he opened and closed one of them as if trying to grasp at something.  Then she saw the tell-tale glow and couldn’t hold back any longer.  When the glow faded, she took his hand into hers.  “Doctor, it was your idea that we come to this silly farm.  You can’t go regenerating here.  This close to a black hole, this far away from the TARDIS, who knows what might happen.”

She sighed when he didn’t seem to answer her, either verbally or telepathically.  “We never talked about this.  What do I do, Doctor?  How can I do everything you expect of me with him sitting there wanting me to be everything that he can’t be?  Pretending to be you is one thing.  But how do I do this?”

She felt the tell-tale feeling of the tears starting to well up.  She rested her forehead against his hand that was still clasped between her own.  It wasn’t much of a pillow.  The mattress would have been more comfortable, but she couldn’t let him go.  She had to take advantage of this time she had been given.

A few minutes later, she felt a weight on the back of her head.  Long fingers were gently massaging her scalp.  She turned her head slightly and blinked the tears away so she could open her eyes.  She saw the Doctor looking back at her.  He had turned slightly and the hand she wasn’t clinging to was atop her head. 

After a few seconds passed in silence, and the pain of his current position grew to be too much, the Doctor lowered his hand from her head.  “Do you know why you’re crying?

They had been working on that question ever since they had left Scotland.  Missy’s ability to cry wasn’t enough.  The Doctor had started to help her explore why it was happening and so, it had become a question he would ask her on occasion.  She pursed her lips in a subtle pout.  “Too many reasons at once.”

“Name one.  Just one.”

“We’re not in the Vault anymore.”

“Well done for the reality check.  All the more reason to answer the question.”

Missy offered a small snort of derision.  “That _was_ my answer.”

The Doctor hummed, then his eyes widened in surprise.  “Oh!”

“Yes.  ‘Oh.’”  She paused for a moment.  “Do you really think that you can still save me, knowing what you now know?”

“Missy,” he tried to sit up, but gave up and took a moment to get his breath back after his effort, “I don’t need to know.  I already have.  The rest is up to you.”

“So, you think it’s that simple.  That I can just change like that?”

“Nothing simple about it.”  He gasped in pain and regeneration energy flowed through him for a moment.  “You have choices to make now, Missy.  Every moment of everyday we spend here.  You have to choose which path you’re going to follow.”

She pursed her lips.  “So, it’s him or you.”

“That’s overly simple and you know it.”

“It’s in my nature to choose him.  He was me.”

“But you’re not him.  You’re hardly the same as how we met in St. Paul’s.  All you have to do is continue to choose.  It’s no different than choosing to stay in the Vault.”

“It feels different.”

“More challenging, that’s all.”  He gasped again.  “I’m sorry, I need to...”

Missy shouldn’t have kept him up this long.  She nodded her head and he closed his eyes.  He mumbled another apology.  “Sorry.”

She shook her head.  “I know you can’t control it.”

He murmured something she didn’t understand.  She rested her palm against his forehead and then slowly moved her hand back into his hair, running her fingers into his curls.  “Sleep, Dear.  Just sleep.”

She exhibited amazing self-control by not trying to enter his mind.  She was just trying to comfort him as he had sometimes done for her.  She sighed.  “Quite the pair we’ve always made.  I don’t know if I’m strong enough for this.  But, I’ll try.”

“It will be enough.”

She looked down at him.  He looked like he hadn’t moved at all, let alone spoke, but she knew she hadn’t imagined it.  “I’ll stay with you until you’re properly asleep, then.”

She noted that he seemed to relax at that suggestion.  Though, she couldn’t understand why, since she had planned to leave him for dead on that rooftop.  She pulled a hand down her face.  No, she hadn’t.  _He_ had.  Her younger self.  He was the one who wished all sorts of bad things on the Doctor.  She was on the Doctor's side.  But being divided like this was difficult.

As she mused over these thoughts, she started to hum a song from their childhood.  An ancient lullaby.  She was quite sure one or both of them had sung it to each other in ages past.  She couldn’t do more than hum, since she had forgotten the words long ago.  The Doctor started to hum quietly as well.  The ‘echo’ part of the song.  It wasn’t a ‘round’ in the proper sense, but it had elements of echoing different parts.  Missy’s lips twisted as she tried not to smile.

She had started to hum to distract herself, but she was pleased it seemed to comfort him.  She slowly lowered her head to the bed, allowing it to rest in a small space.  This close, she could see the regeneration energy gently pulsing beneath the surface.  The silly fool was holding it back.  She didn’t know why, couldn’t begin to figure it out, but she knew he would never rest properly if it continued on like that.

She looked around the room to see if she could sense anyone nearby.  “Don’t tell anyone I did this.”

She had no way to know if she could still do this.  The Doctor had changed the settings of the device that the Keepers of the Fatality Index had meant to use to kill her, but she didn’t know if he had changed them enough.  She closed her eyes and lightly rested one hand over each heart.  She murmured to herself.  “Please.”

There was a soft glow that started to flow into her hands.  It wasn’t enough.  She knew it wasn’t enough.  The most she could do would be to ease his pain enough so he could rest, but it wouldn’t be enough to heal even the least of his wounds.  But, she did what she could.  She stopped when she saw him relax.  “I’m sorry, dear.  You saved me, but I can’t offer you more.”

The Doctor’s soft whisper floated through the air.  “It’s enough.   _You’re_ enough.”

She smirked down at him.  “Don’t spoil the moment by being overly sentimental.”

But she knew he was already fast asleep.  She sat back down in the chair and took his hand in hers.  She wasn’t sure how long she could have moments like this.  The Other One’s influence was constantly pressing down on her and it was so hard to remember everything she had learnt in the Vault.  And harder still to not give in to so many years of ingrained responses that she was now reminded existed.  Without the Doctor, she was lost and that was a terrifying thought indeed.

Like all the humans she saw as so petty, she needed the same thing: for him to live.  It was sad and ridiculous that he had so easily turned her into this.  But if there was ever a time she actually needed him, it was now.  "You're going to lose me, you know.  If you ever had me, that is."


	4. Chapter 4

Missy stayed with the Doctor until she could sense the Master was getting too close.  The closer they were to each other, the harder it was for her to behave how the wounded man in the bed wanted.  So, she got up and quietly left him.  Hazran was seated at the end of the hall, mending some garments.  She was obviously trying to not look obvious that she was guarding the Doctor.  Missy nodded her head at the woman as she passed.  She paused briefly.  “Take care of him.  We all need him.”

Given what Nardole had told her, Hazran was slightly surprised at what the woman had said to her, but she nodded her head in acknowledgement.  She watched Missy walk away and then collected her mending items and moved back to the medical room to keep her watch over the Doctor.

The Doctor seemed to be sleeping peacefully, which was fine with Hazran.  She had her mending to complete and really needed to think about all of these strangers and what their presence would mean.  Those that she watched over were confused as to why she would take these strangers in so readily, especially with a Cyberman in tow, but there was something about them.  She couldn’t put her finger on what, but she felt that the strangers’ presence meant a new life for all of them.  That’s what she hoped anyway.  They needed it.  After all, even without these new arrivals, the creatures who hunted them had to know they were in this location by now, otherwise, why would they have increased the number of attacks they made here?

Then there was the man in the bed, the Doctor.  He was a right strange one.  His ability to glow notwithstanding, he just had this presence about him, even injured as he was, to get everyone to listen to him and do what he said.  She wanted to save him and nearly befriend him immediately.  That was odd for her, since she always put protecting the others ahead of everything else.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but she was pulled from her thoughts and from her mending by the soft moans coming from the Doctor.  A fine sheen of sweat had broken across his skin.  But she had expected this.  She set everything aside and turned to the bedside table where a basin of water and a flannel were ready for her to use.

She soaked the cloth and rung it out.  Then she cleaned some of the sweat from the Doctor’s face.  She rinsed the cloth and rung it again, then gently placed it across his forehead.  “There, there.  This is normal.  You just rest and we’ll take care of you.”

She had no idea if it was normal for him or not.  But she had seen it often enough among her people.  Besides, she didn’t really know how else to comfort him. 

A little later, she wasn’t sure how much time had passed, there was a gentle knocking at the door.  It sounded like one of the children.  Hazran had instructed them to leave this room alone unless they absolutely needed her, which she knew they wouldn’t.  She got up from her chair and went to the door.  She opened it a crack and looked out and found Alit looking up at her.  “Alit, I thought I told you I wasn’t to be disturbed.”

“I-I’m sorry, Miss, but I was worried about the man.  Nardole said he wasn’t dead, but…”  She bit her lower lip, twisted her hands together and shrugged a shoulder.

Hazran considered the child for a few moments.  “All right, I should make the rounds and check on everyone else.  You can sit with him while I do that.  But,” she pointed a finger at Alit, “He’s badly injured and needs his rest.  If he starts to get hot, you know how to do the flannel compress?”

Alit nodded.  “Thank you, Miss.”

Hazran helped Alit to get settled in, then she left the pair alone.

Alit made herself as comfortable as possible in the chair, sitting upon it pretzel-style.  She rested her elbows on her knees and her chin atop her clasped hands.  She watched the Doctor closely and only relaxed slightly when she could finally tell that he was breathing. 

Alit wasn’t one to track time.  But she got scared for a minute when the grey-haired man started to moan in his sleep.  But she didn’t wake him.  She remained quiet and realised that the moans were words.  Names.  She leant in so she could hear him better.  It was a list of names.  “River, Clara, Amy, Rory, Adric, Sara, Katarina.”

He seemed to repeat the list, almost like a prayer.  When the moans became shouts, Alit decided it was best to awaken him.  She started by calling to him, but she didn’t know his name.  Hazran had only said ‘the Doctor’, but Alit didn’t think calling him that would be helpful.  Finally, she swallowed hard and decided to shake the man’s shoulder as she cried out.  “Hey, Sir?  Wake up!  Wake up!”

It took her a few tries, but the Doctor jolted awake with a gasp.  Then he let his head fall back to the pillow as he released a gasp. “Bill.”

Alit got one of the flannels and started to use it on his head.  She tried to sooth him as she worked.  “You’re safe here.  Well as safe as any of us are.”

The Doctor hummed his approval and for a few moments, for a change just let her care for him.  When he could speak again, he looked up at her.  “What’s your name?”

“Alit.  What’s yours?”

“I’m the Doctor.”

She frowned.  “We don’t have doctors here.  Where did you come from?  The round man, Nardole, he said you came from ‘downstairs’.  What did he mean?”

The Doctor closed his eyes and took a cleansing breath before looking at the girl.  “I’m from a place very far from here.  But maybe I ended up here because you don’t have enough doctors.  Nardole was right, we came from downstairs.  But you know what he meant.  I can tell just by looking at you.  You can sense it.”

Alit nodded with all the seriousness she could muster.  “Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I can feel something.  Like a deep rumbling coming from far below the ground.”

The Doctor offered a smile.  “Exactly.  We’re on a huge spaceship.  Like this house has several levels to it, the spaceship does as well.”

“507.  We’re on floor 507.  How many floors are there?”

“One thousand and fifty-six.  That’s where we last were, before we started to come up here.”

She leant in closer.  “What happened to you?  And how far were you trying to go?”

“We were trying to get to Floor Zero.  Got over halfway there.  I suppose that’s something.  What happened to me?  Oh, well… a creature caught me and shocked me.”

Alit tilted her head.  “C-can I see?”  She knew that was probably a rude question.  “It’s just, I thought you were dead when the silver man carried you out of the ship.”

The Doctor nodded and slowly moved his arm from under the covers so she could see the burn marks.  She gasped quietly, so he calmed her.  “I’ll be okay, though.  I just need to rest.  And the silver man wasn’t a man.  That was my friend Bill.”

“If he’s your friend, why is he in the barn?”

“She.  Bill’s a she.  And she makes the adults scared.  She needed some sleep too, so I gave her some medicine so she could rest.”

Which wasn’t at all what had happened, but it was the best he could explain to a child.

“Is there anything else we can do to help you?”

He smiled at her but shook his head.  “You’re keeping watch over me.  It’s enough.  Hopefully when I’m better, I can return the favour.”

“Would you like me to read to you?  Hazran sometimes reads to us when we have bad dreams to help us sleep.  Maybe it will help you too.”

The Doctor frowned slightly.  “What makes you think I had a bad dream?”

“You were kind of moaning, like in pain, only you were saying a list of names.”

“Do you know what names?”

The girl shook her head no.  “But you sounded like it hurt to say them.”

“I don’t remember what I was dreaming.”  That was a lie.  As soon as Alit said her last statement, he knew what he must have been saying and therefore what he was dreaming.  Well, it was only right that he would think of all the people he had failed to save.  He hummed as he closed his eyes.  “I think I’d like it if you read, yes.”

She pulled a book from the bedside table and started to read from it.  It wasn’t a story that the Doctor recognised, but then he didn’t know much about Mondas before the Cybermen had taken over, let alone what myths and legends would have developed on the different solar farms on this colony ship.  Eventually, Alit’s voice lulled him back to sleep.

Nardole had decided to start taking innovatory of everything the farm had.  He had a terrible suspicion that they were going to have to defend this place and he didn’t want to delay preparations waiting for the Doctor to get better when he could start now. 

He would steer clear of the barn, until he was sure the ‘twins’ wouldn’t get too interested in it.  He started in the basement of the house, since he could look through the attic when the children were awake.  There was frustratingly little down there.  Large wooden planks, that would probably be used to fix the walls, but if they were long enough, maybe they could cover the windows.  Bolts of material.  For clothes and such, he was sure.  He might be able to repurpose them for something else.

His head was already formalising ideas for how everything could be used.  They had a bit of time, if he could plan well enough in advanced.  It would have to do.

The Master had stalked his way around the premises.  He wanted in the barn, but one of the pathetic humans was guarding it.  It was clear he wasn’t going to get in, so he stormed out onto the field.  He wanted to take a look at the ‘scarecrows’.  Oh, he knew what they were and how they had gotten here.  He even knew why.  But they were still a curiosity to him.  He approached one and tilted his head as he looked at it closely.  He did this as if it would help him to see the creature better.  Or more accurately, help him to see the person the creature used to be.

The creature’s head shifted and the arms struggled against the chains holding it to the post.  The Master grinned and backed up a little.  “Oh, you remember me, do you?  Well, good.  That should make this rather fun, don’t you think?”

The creature struggled against its chains again.  The Master giggled.  “What’s wrong?  Can’t get free?  Well.  All the better for me then, isn’t it?  Now, if you’re very good, I might have plans for you and will set you free, but you have to prove yourself worthy.  Be a good bo—creature and tell the others.  Patience and I’ll let you swarm this floor to your heart’s content.”  He offered a mock pout.  “Oh, but you don’t have hearts any more do you.  Just brains.  Well, we did get that fixed the next model up.  You might get to see one very soon.”

The Master was formulating a plan.  The Doctor had made them targets by changing the computer program.  But what if he could change things again simply by using the hive mind? It was far from ideal, but given the Doctor and Bill were out of commission, he just might have the time to pull it off.

For now, he had to move on.  He needed to check on Missy and see what she was up to.  He was worried.  If she was what he was to become, well… He would need to put a stop to it.  She had clearly forgotten who she was and her purpose in the universe.  What he couldn’t work out was why.  Being female couldn’t be enough.  After all, the Rani was an example of that.  She was completely amoral.  While the Doctor might not agree with his own morals, having no morals at all had made her seem eviller and conniving in some ways.  No.  There was something else.  Something must have happened to change Missy so completely and he was determined to find out what.

The Master left the scarecrow and made a wide circle of the land to see if there was anything at all near the farm house.  He found nothing, but when he ended up near the barn he again stared hard at it.  Bill would be better to use for the hive mind, but the human was still standing guard.  Annoying how loyal everyone was to the Doctor, without him even trying.  His adversary was mostly unconscious and yet people still trusted him more than anyone else the Master had ever seen.  It was completely unfair.  He huffed loudly.

The human guarding the barn heard him, pulled his gun to the ready, and started to scan the area.  The Master gave a small wave to show he was the one who had made the noise.  The guard gave a nod of the head and called out. “Move along, no one else is needed here tonight.”

The Master used his heel to make a sharp turn to head towards the house.  He made his way up the wooden stairs and then opened the door as quietly as he could.  He was surprised it wasn’t locked, but then he supposed they would probably lock it when the adults went to bed.

He made his way to one of the corner rooms.  It was set up like a school room.  It was empty of anyone else.  Good, that suited him just fine.  He figured he would have the place to himself until morning.  That would give him time to think and time to try to connect with Missy’s mind, if he could.  He knew the Doctor had done that with his earlier selves on several occasions, so he should be able to as well.  He sat at what was obviously the teacher’s desk and stretched his legs out so they were lounging on top of it, making himself as comfortable as he could.  Then he closed his eyes and started to focus. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I had to really work to resolve why some conversations that would happened DAY ONE on floor 507 didn’t happen until Two Weeks later, so if you’re looking for specific interactions between specific characters during this fic and you don’t find them, there’s a good chance that’s why they’re not happening. Also trying to figure out how to make all of that work is why this chapter took a bit longer than I expected.


	5. Chapter 5

Two days had passed in a similar fashion.  Missy continued to try to avoid the Master and he tried to break into her mind.  Nardole did his best to blend in, while also working as a leader.  The rest of the people continued to live their lives as they had prior to the arrival of the strangers, though Nardole had started to encourage them to get ready.  They were starting to trust him, at least a bit.  That was good.

The Doctor slept.  Most of the time, anyway.  His healing coma was not working quite as well as it should.  There were too many variables for him to be able to pinpoint the reason.  Stress alone could be enough to cause him to not rest properly.  The severity of the injuries could also be a reason.  The closeness to the black hole or the distance from the TARDIS, any or all of these things could contribute to problems with his ability to heal.  Which only compounded his stress level. 

He had one time heard Teegan talk about an inability to sleep.  He had told everyone to get a good night’s rest because of the planet he was going to take them to.  Teegan looked terrible the next day.  After their adventure, he talked with her about it.  She said that in trying to force herself to sleep that she got so worked up that she couldn’t hardly sleep at all.

While he hadn’t ridiculed her for it, he hadn’t understood it at the time.  He did now.  If he was awake when individuals came to check on him, they would provide him with food and water.  If not, they would let him sleep.  He loved it best when the children would come and visit him. 

He especially liked it when Alit was there.  If he was awake, she would read to him until he fell asleep and then watch over him like some kind of sentinel.  He only knew that because one time he had woken to find her literally watching over him.  He figured if she came by when he was asleep, she would just do that.

This particular afternoon, Alit came in and the Doctor was staring at the ceiling.  Trying to rest, but clearly not able to.  She took her place in the chair and sat there in silence for a minute or two just watching him.  Finally, she spoke.  “You can’t sleep.  But you don’t want me to read to you, or you would have asked already.”

His lips quirked in something that mimicked a small smile.  “What do you do when you can’t sleep?”

Alit considered her answer before replying.  “You mean if I’ve made sure I’m not hungry or thirsty and that there aren’t any attacks from the scarecrows going on?”  He nodded, so she continued.  “Sometimes I sneak out and go for a walk.  Sometimes I just know I’ll be really tired the next day and try to find time to take a nap.”  She frowned as she looked at him.  “But that’s not really what you mean.”  She hummed quietly as she tried to think of an answer.  “Sometimes my head is just too full of stuff.  So I need to quiet it down.  I go to the window and look out.  I know the sky isn’t real.  Can’t be with the number printed up there.  But sometimes, I pretend I can see through the roof and into the real sky.  Some of the books talk about stars in the sky, so I pretend I can see them and that I can fly between them.  It makes me feel good, then I can sleep.”

The Doctor finally turned his head to look at the girl.  “If it helps you to know, stars are real.  And there are billions of them.”

He tapered off in thought.  Alit looked at him for a long time and made a decision.  “The other thing I do when I can’t sleep… Sometimes if a bunch of us kids can’t sleep, we curl up together.  Like, knowing I’m not alone helps me to sleep.”

The Doctor’s expression shifted into a combination of pain and sorrow.  Alit quickly corrected herself.  “I-I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to upset you.”

He nodded.  “I know you didn’t.  I just haven’t had that for a very long time.”

She smiled and almost giggled.  “Is that because you’re so old?”

He shook his head.  “No.  It’s because grown-ups don’t do that.  Unless they’re comforting their child or they’re married.”  He tilted his head as he considered her.  “How long has it been since you slept properly?”

She looked sheepish.  “Since you lot arrived.  A-and it’s not that I’m scared of any of you.  And I know you will help us against the scarecrows.  But...”

“We’re still strangers and our being here means you’re not as safe as you thought.”

Alit nodded and went quiet as she thought hard about how to help him.  “I’m going to have to go to lessons soon, but I’ll check back tonight before I go to bed.  And if you still can’t sleep, maybe I can come down and curl up with you?  I mean, I know I’m not your daughter, but maybe we can help each other sleep?  At least for one night.”

The Doctor considered her offer.  Years ago, he had avoided sleeping around River for fear of his nightmares.  But he looked at the child before him.  So much like his own children in so many ways.  So much like Susan when she was a time tot.  Finally, he nodded.  “If neither of us can sleep, then yes, we can try that.  Maybe at least one of us can sleep if we try it.”

With that, Alit got of the chair and made to exit the room.  She turned back and offered a good-bye.  “See you later.”

As she turned to leave, he saw that she smiled.  She was such a serious child that the Doctor wasn’t sure she could.  And that smile encouraged him.  Yes, he needed to get better to be able to protect these people, but mostly he needed to get better because children like her deserved to have something to smile about.

He was able to doze lightly most of the afternoon.  Nardole came to check on him and fed him dinner.  He brought two bowls of stew with him.  The Doctor slowly sat himself up in bed enough so that he could feed himself.

Nardole grimaced.  “You really shouldn’t do that, sir.  You should be resting.”

“I know.  But I can’t rest the way I’m supposed to so just let me have some dignity, okay?”

Nardole sat down and started to eat his stew.  “I’m just worried about you.”

The Doctor sighed.  “I know.  And I told you a long time ago, that around me, people should worry about themselves.”  He took a bite of the stew and closed his eyes.  It hit the right spot.  “This is good.”

Nardole nodded.  “Hazran made it special for you.  She only let me have some because I was bringing it in to you.  She said it’s a recipe she gives to the kids when they can’t calm down.”

At that the Doctor looked over at the bald semi-droid.  “You didn’t let her drug me, did you?  Nardole, you have no idea…”

He held up his hand before the man in the bed could spin himself into a panic.  “There’s no drugs, Doctor.  It’s like chicken soup on Earth when someone has a cold.  It’s comfort food.  Just meant to make you feel warm and cosy so hopefully you can fall asleep.”

The Doctor took a breath, nodded, and continued to eat, though more slowly than he had before.  After a few spoonfuls he started to question Nardole.  “So, what have you learned so far?”

“No.”

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and paused with his spoon half-way to his lips.  “No?”

Nardole nodded.  “No.  We’re not doing that right now.  You need to focus on resting.  And you won’t rest if you’re plotting and scheming how to defeat the Cybermen.”

“I’m doing that anyway.”

“Which is why you can’t rest.  Any idea you come up with in this state will be half-baked and probably won’t work.  So, you need to rest and let me take care of things for now.”  He watched the Doctor and when the injured man seemed to acquiesce, he provided his answer.  “I’m working on downloading the ship’s schematics from the shuttle to a laptop.  Once I have a better idea of what we’re dealing with, I might be able to help you come up with a plan.  But, it’s going to take another twenty-four hours at least to finish downloading.  The shuttle was pretty damaged when we crashed. And then I have to analyse all the data.  I’ll need at least three days for that.”

That wasn’t entirely true.  The download would probably finish in six hours, and the analysis would probably only take twenty-four hours if he didn’t sleep, but he wanted the Doctor to rest and knew the man wouldn’t even try if he knew he could have information in six hours.  A few days, however, would give him enough reason to try to rest. 

“How are Missy and the Master?”  The Doctor’s question broke into Nardole’s thoughts.  It took him a moment to recover enough to answer the question.  “I think they’re avoiding each other and I’m doing my best to keep them from you until you’ve recovered a bit more.”

“Keep an eye on the Master.  He doesn’t give up and he doesn’t give in.  He’s plotting something, I just don’t know what yet.  Missy only needs to be watched to see if she and the Master start to team up.  As long as she’s avoiding him, not all is lost.”

Nardole was shocked.  “But, Sir, what she did to you!”

The Doctor shrugged.  “You’ll never have to worry about it, but it’s a very strange thing to be confronted with your earlier self.  She admitted that she was trying to be on my side.  That’s hard to do with him about.”

Nardole nodded.  “Very well.  Anything else I should be doing?”

“Get the people ready for the biggest fight of their lives.  But if the schematics provide any possibility of escape, remind them that retreating is an important option as well.  Live to fight another day.”

“And you?”

“I’ll either be fine, or I won’t be.  Nothing any of us can do about that now.”

“Your body’s still trying to regenerate?  Why not just let it?”

“Because I’m positively rubbish for at least the first few hours after regeneration.  Sometimes it can last days.  These people might not have that long.  I _can_ be woken from a healing coma, so that’s the safer option.”

Nardole nodded.  “Okay, I don’t like it though.”

“I didn’t ask you to like it.  It’s the best option right now.”

The pair finished their soup in silence.

Eating had exhausted the Doctor, so he handed his bowl back to Nardole and properly laid down in the bed.  He tried to make himself as comfortable as he could.  Nardole looked over him.  “Anything else I can do, sir?”

At first, the Doctor shook his head, but a part of him secretly hoped that Alit would come to visit again.  He realised that ever since Alit had made her offer, he had actually been looking forward to it.  He had for so long fought against domesticity.  Even with River he had fought a certain amount of it.  And now he was going to allow himself this one luxury.  If only because he knew he had to get some rest or he’d never be able to help these people.  He sighed and looked over at the bald man.  “Could you ask Alit to come in?  She had an idea to help me sleep.”

Nardole gave a nod and exited the room.

A couple of hours later, Alit gently knocked on the door.  The Doctor invited her in and he smiled at the pyjamas she wore.  They were made of a flannel like material and had little birds all over them.  She took a seat on the chair.  “You wanted to see me.”

The Doctor nodded.  “I’ve been thinking about your idea.  And I think it would be good to try.  But there are rules.”

She frowned.  “Rules.”

He nodded again.  Then he closed his eyes and allowed a controlled amount of regeneration energy to appear in one of his hands.  “Do you see this glow?”  She nodded so he continued.  “It shouldn’t hurt you, but if I fall asleep, it might.  I won’t have control over it and I need you to be safe.  So, if you see this happening, or if you feel like I’m getting too warm to you, I need you to get away from me, all right?”

Her frown didn’t move.  “If I’m asleep how will I know?”

The Doctor offered a grim smile.  Alit was a smart girl.  He made a gesture that she should come closer and held both of his hands out to her.  “Go on, take them.”

She did as she was told and her frown deepened when she felt the difference in temperature between them.  “Oh.  Yes, I see what you mean.  I think that would waken me, yes.  Does it hurt you?”

The Doctor shook his head.  “Not like this.  This is just a little bit of the energy seeping through.  But, if I can’t rest, it might happen to my entire body at once, rather than just a little bit in my hand.  It’s how my people heal when we’re badly injured.”

He didn’t want to scare her.  Didn’t want to tell her just how painful it was having all your cells turned inside out as they renewed themselves.  She nodded her understanding.  “But, you said sleep would help with healing too?”

He offered a tiny smile.  “Yes.  I’m hoping that if I sleep deeply enough, then the sleep will allow my body to heal without using all that energy.”

She realised one thing. “If you do sleep that deep… Will I be able to leave?  I shouldn’t miss school.  But I wouldn’t want to waken you.”

The Doctor smiled properly this time.  “If I sleep that deeply, there is very little that will waken me.  You’ll be able to leave, don’t worry.”

She nodded.  “I hope we can help each other sleep, though.”

He gestured to the cupboard.  “I saw Hazran put some blankets in there.  Why don’t you grab a couple so that you don’t get cold?”

He knew the difference in their body temperatures probably wouldn’t be comfortable to her, so he planned to have her sleep on top of his covers, but he knew she’d need to be covered as well.  She did as she was told and then the pair tried to get comfortable on the bed.  The Doctor turned on his side and he wrapped an arm protectively around Alit once she was settled.  “Good night, Doctor.”

“Good night, Alit.”

Alit fell asleep first.  There was something soothing about her calm breathing and the Doctor could feel the steady beat of her pulse which also calmed him.  It wasn’t long before he too fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Alit woke a few hours later and found the Doctor asleep.  She carefully moved so that she wouldn’t wake him.  She knew he was hurt and everyone kept saying he needed to sleep.  But she didn’t feel right staying there.  Once she was out of the bed, she leant over and placed a small kiss on his cheek.  “Sleep well, Doctor.”

Then she quietly exited the room and returned to her own bed.

The next morning, Hazran checked in on the Doctor.  She sighed with some relief to see him sleeping.  Rather than getting Nardole, she went to find Missy.  She found the woman standing in the shadow of a tree that was half way between the barn and where there was a field of scarecrows.  It was a perfect vantage point to watch both locations at the same time.

She was twisting her hands as she approached the other woman.  Missy made her very nervous for all kinds of reasons, but she didn’t want to go to the Master or whatever the man with the goatee called himself.  Besides, according to Nardole, they were all the same species as the Doctor and so she thought it would be better to ask her questions of this woman than Nardole.  She cleared her throat.  “Good Morning.”

Missy hummed a sigh that sounded put-off that Hazran was even attempting to speak to her.  “There’s still some breakfast left, if you’re hungry.”

“I’m not.  I might be by dinner, though.”

Hazran nodded and got up the courage to ask her questions.  “You and the Doctor are from the same planet, yes?”  Missy nodded and so she continued.  “Well, it’s only that today, when I went in to check on him, he didn’t wake up.  I didn’t know if it was a good thing or not.  He and Nardole had talked about his need for rest, but…  Is it normal to not wake up?”

Missy snapped her head toward the woman at that news.   “He’s sleeping?  Properly?  You called his name and he didn’t wake?”

Hazran got nervous again and took a step back from Missy.  She nodded her head.

Missy seemed to pale and she looked around as if looking for danger.  “He shouldn’t be left alone like that.  He’s very vulnerable.  My younger sel… I mean the Master, he might try to do things if he knows.  The barn should be guarded as well.”

“We have a lot to do today, we need to go and harvest some fruits and vegetables.”

With that information from Hazran, Missy started to stalk towards the house.  “Then it will have to be me.”

Hazran quickly followed and then kept pace.  “Have to be you to what?”

“I can’t be in two places at once, though.  If Nardole isn’t busy, he should watch after Bill.”

Hazran was confused.  “I don’t understand, what’s the problem?”

“The problem is the Doctor is unconscious and totally useless.  He won’t be able to protect himself or Bill.  Which means we have to step up and do it for him.  But I won’t be able to do it all the time.  If the Master gets too close… Let’s just say he might be able to convince me to do bad things.”

Hazran gasped.  “I think I understand.  I’ll let you go to the Doctor and I’ll go find Nardole.  Maybe all of us together can find the best solution.”

About ten minutes later, the trio were in the Doctor’s room, talking quietly.  Missy had taken the chair beside the Doctor’s bed.  She knew better than to touch him, but it also gave her a good position to keep an eye on what was happening outside through the window.  He had promised to guard her body for a thousand years and he had to live if he was going to keep that promise.

Nardole was pacing the room as much as he could.  He wasn’t as good with ideas as the Doctor was.  At least not these kinds of ideas.  He was the computer guy.  Hazran had positioned herself next to the door.  She would prevent anyone from entering or listening at the door.  When she would suspect the children listening she would only have to knock on the door to let them know she knew they were there, then they would scamper away.

“Well, on the good side, the regenerative sleep should help, right?”

Nardole addressed Missy.  Hazran was largely staying out of the conversation since she only knew about things relating to the farm.  Missy shrugged.  “Hard to say.  In one sense the regeneration process has already begun.  If he can heal himself enough through the sleep, it might be enough.  If not, well, there’s nothing we can do, he’ll either regenerate or die refusing to.”

“Die?”  It was all Hazran could get out.  She didn’t understand much of this conversation, but that she did.

“Die refusing to?”  There was a tone of disbelief and scandal in Nardole’s reply.  He had extended what Hazran said.

Missy nodded.  “Yes.  It is possible.  I even managed it once….”  Her voice trailed off and she looked out the window towards something only she could see.  She was looking for her younger self.  The one who had refused regeneration.  She hoped he was far away and couldn’t sense what was happening, though she figured it was a foolish hope.

“Okay.  Well, let’s not worry about that unless we have to.  How do we keep everyone safe and the Doctor alive?”

Missy pulled herself from thoughts of the past and redirected her attention to the people in the room.  “Hazran, you know this place, I suggest you keep running things as you normally would.  Keep an eye on me.  It’s possible that if I stay here, I’ll be safe, but it’s possible if I stay here, the Doctor won’t be.  Still, it’s the best option.  My… The Master doesn’t like the farmhouse much, so it’s likely he’ll stay away at least until the Doctor is awake.  He knows we need him.  Nardole, probably best if you’re in charge of guarding the barn.  I know you’re working on a plan.  You can get one of the peasants to guard it for all I care, but she needs to be left alone until the Doctor is awake again.”

Hazran swallowed thickly.  Things had turned far more serious than she expected.  “Well, I best get to it, then.  They’ll all be wondering what happened to me.  You all know where to find me when you’re ready.”

Nardole offered her a kindly smile and approached her as she was ready to leave.  “Thank you for everything.  I know it doesn’t seem like we’re having you do much, but you have the most important job of all:  keeping life moving along as normal as you can.”

She smiled at him.  “You’re too kind.  I’m just doing what needs to be done.”

He nodded.  “You’re a lot like the Doctor, then.  Which is good.  We need as many people like that as we can get.”

With that, Hazran left the room.

Nardole didn’t think he should leave the room for a few minutes.  With both Bill and the Doctor asleep, he was the only one about who could possibly offer the kind of conversation she was used to.

“How are you?”

Missy huffed.  She had no plans to reply to the man.

“Look, I know you’re worried about him.  But, I really want to know what I can do to help you.”

Missy turned her attention from the Doctor to face Nardole.  “Look, Egg Head, I have no intention of talking to you about things that a primitive like you would never understand.  I’m not the Doctor and I’m not good.”

Nardole tilted his head, no longer put off by her attacks.  “Then why are you planning to sit here with him?”

“Because I’m still better than the alternative.”

Nardole couldn’t argue with that.  “Is there anything I can do to make it easier on you?  Anything to help?”

Missy pursed her lips and shook her head.  But she spoke anyway.  “Do what you can to keep him away from us and Bill.”

Nardole sighed.  He had tried, but it was obvious she wasn’t going to talk to him.  “All right.  I will.  But, you don’t have to go through this alone, you know.  And when Bill and the Doctor wake up, they’re going to want to help you too.”

“You can go now.”

Nardole sighed again, but left the room as she had ordered.  He could see she was trying and that was more than he could ask or expect of the other.  Everyone had their assigned tasks and he had to go check on Bill. 

Upon arriving at the barn, he noticed that Hazran had already assigned someone to keep an eye on it.  There was only one easy way in and out, so he figured a rotating schedule would work well enough to keep her safe.  He nodded to the man and entered.  He came face to face with the Cyberman again.

It was still hard.  When he talked about her, he thought of her as the curly-haired girl with a lot of spunk.  But being here, seeing the sleeping form of the Cyberman reminded him of the reality.  And the precarious position they were all in.  “Oh, Bill, we will hopefully get out of this.  I’m just not sure how yet.”

He didn’t know why he was talking to her.  The Doctor had made it pretty clear that she probably wouldn’t wake until he wanted her to.  “Right, well, no point in my dawdling around here.  I should get to work.  You rest well.  The Doctor is doing the same.”

He left the barn.  He had decided to start comparing the schematics to what he could see on the surface of the floor.  It would be information he would need.  While the computer could do most of the work, he liked to understand what was all around him.  How much was hologram and how much was reality.  With both the Doctor and Bill asleep, he had time.

He should have anticipated running into the Master.  But for some reason, he didn’t.  Or rather, he had expected to encounter him sooner.  When he was around more people.

“Oh look, it’s the Egg.”

Nardole frowned.  “ _You’re_ not allowed to call me that!”

The Master tapped the side of his head.  “But one day I will.”

“But not _yet_.”

The Master smirked.  It was so easy to get under the round man’s skin and he hadn’t been able to properly tease anyone since they landed on this floor.  He stalked around Nardole, sizing him up, like a cat sizing up a mouse before deciding to pounce or not.  Nardole stood still and just glared at him as he did this.

Finally, the Master took a step in and sniffed Nardole.  “Oh, I see.  Oh, the Doctor always had a thing for pets.  Especially,” he grabbed Nardole’s shirt and pulled it away from his neck so he could see the scar, “Pet robots.  Tiny bit boring of him, really.  The more he changes, the more he stays the same.”

Nardole took the Master’s hand and forced it away.  “We’re _friends_ , for your information.  But I doubt you’d remember what that is like.”

“You go on and tell yourself that.  He’ll leave you in the end.  He always does.  He runs.  I’ve known him practically all of his lives and running is the one constant in his life.”

“He and I have been doing a lot of running together recently.”

The Master grinned.  “His little metal dog would say the same.  Like I said: he likes his robot pets.”

Nardole huffed loudly and decided it was time to end this.  “If you’re finished, I assume you’re bored and I have something you can do that will hopefully help.”

“I don’t take orders from robots.”

“You want to get off this ship, don’t you?”

That stopped the Master.  Yes, he did want that.  And wanted to avoid being turned into a Cyberman, if that could be helped.  “I’m listening.”

“I can’t map out the entire floor myself.  It’s nearly 100 miles across.  But I do need to know how accurate the schematics are.  So, I need you to take a hike.  Three days in that direction should do it.”  Nardole pointed in the direction he wanted the Master to go.  “Use your screwdriver and take readings.  I’ll then be able to download the information and overlay it to the schematics, that should give me a good enough idea of how accurate they are.”

The Master sensed a trick.  “What about you and the others?”

“I’m going to go three days out in that direction.”  He pointed the opposite way.  “I’ll have the Doctor’s sonic.”

“What about Missy?”

“The locals don’t trust her.  She’s staying here under their watch.”

Nardole was only stretching the truth a little.  He was going to go one day out and back.  It would give him enough data and it would keep the Master away for about six days – if he went the full three days.  He was the one who didn’t trust Missy, which is why Hazran didn’t.  If they kept her where they could watch her, everything would be better.

“I can have Hazran get a pack together for you, unless you don’t think you’ll need food or water.”

The Master narrowed his eyes.  “I’ll… take the pack.”

The Master’s acceptance didn’t bring as much comfort to Nardole as he had hoped.  But he gestured that the Time Lord should follow.  They went back to the house and Hazran prepared a pack as Nardole had requested.  It included food, water, a change of clothes, and a map.  It wasn’t the schematics, but Nardole figured the maps drawn by the people would be more accurate anyway.  Then the Master went off.  Nardole only hoped the Master would stay away the full six days.  It would make everything easier.

The next morning, Nardole went to check on Missy and the Doctor.  She seemed much calmer.  But he wanted to make sure, so he talked to her before he left.  “Does this mean he’s gone far enough away?  You can tell?”

Missy nodded.  “How did you convince him?”

“Sent him on a reconnaissance mission.”

She hummed.  “Hopefully he’ll do what you asked.”

“He’s nearly as afraid of the Cybermen as anyone.  I told him it would help us get off this floor and it will.”

“Right.  And what are you going to do now?”

“Shorter walk, in the opposite direction.  I’ll be gone about two days.  Should give me enough information.  Will you be all right?”

She nodded.  “The Doctor’s asleep and he’s away, I’ll be well enough.”

Nardole left the Doctor’s room.  He took the Doctor’s screwdriver and took up the pack that Hazran made for him.  As he was leaving, she met him at the door.  “You be safe.  And come back in one piece.  It’s dangerous out there.”

Nardole smiled at the woman.  “I’ll be fine.  I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

She gave a pat to his shoulder and then turned and went back inside.  Without a look back, Nardole started on his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am beyond humbled by the number of people commenting, following, and offering kudos to this story. Thank you all so much! (And to think I nearly didn't even write it LOL.)


	7. Chapter 7

The next few days, life on the farm seemed to return to normal – or almost normal.  Bill, Missy, and the Doctor were still there and needed to be checked on now and then, but for the most part, the natives could go about their business.  Missy did what she could to keep herself busy.  Which meant she spent a lot of time watching the Doctor.  But that wasn’t all she did, she also looked at the different books they used for education and even sat in on one or two classes to see how their education system worked.

After one such session, she entered the Doctor’s room.  She had started to talk to him sometimes.  She knew it wouldn’t wake him, so she started to do it more frequently in recent visits.  This time, she pulled the chair closer to the bed so she could lean against it.

“Honestly, Doctor, I don’t know what you see in them.  They’re the same throughout the entire universe.  I just sat in on their maths class and it’s the same remedial stuff I’ve seen on Earth a dozen times over.  It’s all rote memorisation, rather than actually teaching them the mechanics of how and why the math works the way it does.  No wonder they’re still stuck so close to that black hole!”  She paused and smirked.  “On the other hand, this could be very good for us.  I mean, if all the Cybermen down there are made up of these idiots, then they should be easy to defeat, right?” 

She looked down at his face to see if he gave any indication of hearing her.  She was disappointed but not surprised to see that he hadn’t moved.  She wondered if he even heard her.  She sighed.  “Well, I suppose it would be too much to hope you’d wake up this soon.  Just don’t sleep forever.  We still need to get off this ship.  Or back to the TARDIS, whatever is easier and less deadly.”

She pouted when he still didn’t give any reaction to her.  “Well, you sleep well.  And just stop with all this regeneration nonsense.  We’re just starting to get along and it would be a terrible waste if you were to go and change up on me.  Then we’d probably have to start all over from the beginning.  And I have no desire to go back in the Vault, thank you.”

She sighed again and noticed a little space on the bed.  If she leaned forward from the chair, there was just enough room for her to rest her head.  She would deny it if anyone were to question her about needing sleep, but she was bored just watching the Doctor all the time and she doubted she would get any sleep when the egg-shaped man returned.  She knew she wouldn’t sleep when her younger self returned.  Still, the respite from both of them had been nice.

Nardole was quite disgusted with his trip.  He had hoped he would find some sort of information that would be useful to them, but all he found was the same information that the computer told him.  The only thing of slightest interest was the fact that while this level looked like a farm, it was in fact, part of the ship with service corridors, various pipes, and wires running under the ground. 

When he felt he had walked far enough away from everyone, he pulled out a collapsible shovel he had with him.  He started to dig.  He was curious about how deep the ground actually went.  He was disappointed to learn that the dirt went only about six feet.  He would need his computer to measure how high the ceiling was from the ground.  But this was enough information for now.

With that, he started to make camp.  He would only be here one night, so he didn’t need it to be overly comfortable, just safe.  He had no idea what he might face out here and he didn’t want to attract any attention if he could help it.  He made a little fire and set about warming the food that Hazran sent with him.  It was a stew and he ate it as soon as it was warm enough.  He looked at the sky.  He knew it was fake.  The three moons were modelled after the location of the ship’s engines.  It was an interesting effect and he wasn’t sure why it existed like this when the engines were about 200 miles away.

If he had all the time in the world, he would like to study and research it.  But he didn’t.  When he got back, he would have to check on the Doctor, then Bill, and then Missy.  Pretty much in that order.  There was so much to do and he was worried that there would be very little time to do it. 

He sighed heavily as he set about getting his sleeping bag set up.  He often times acted like he had no nerve to something as basic as camping or really doing anything entirely alone.  But the fact was he had his head chopped off and put back on.  Such an experience tends to stay with a person.  But he would never say he was better off without the Doctor.  He knew the Doctor was good for him, just as he was good for the Doctor, even if neither of them ever admitted it. 

The place he had chosen to camp was fairly open.  He wasn’t keen on that, but he had seen a creek not too far from here and he didn’t want to camp down by the water.  He had no idea if any wild animals might be out and about and he didn’t want to become a snack for any of them.  This was literally a case of which would be safer.  There were some bushes nearby, though and he did sleep closer to them than not, for the little bit of protection they might provide should an animal get interested.

Lying on the ground, he could hear the hum of the ship.  It was oddly soothing and it wasn’t long before he was lulled to sleep.  He slept peacefully through the night and didn’t wake until the light in the sky started to change, becoming bright enough to waken him.  After he made and ate some breakfast, he took care of dousing the campfire, then packed his things for the return trip.

He arrived back late in the afternoon.  Alit saw him coming over the hill and she ran out to greet him.  “Nardole! Do you need help carrying anything?  You must be tired.”

“Famished more than tired, but I’ll give this to you.”

He handed her one of his smaller packs.  It had been used for the food and water, so it was practically empty now, but it was one less thing for him to try to carry, so it wasn’t a big deal to give it to her.

She beamed as she took the pack and slung it around her shoulders.  “Did you learn lots?  Are we going to be safe?”

“I learned a lot, yes.  As to safe, I’m still not sure, but a plan is brewing.”  He tapped the side of his head.

Alit grinned in reply and the pair fell into idle chatter of what had happened in the past couple of days.  The Doctor was still sleeping and Missy was spending as much time with him as they would let her.  As far as Alit knew, Bill was still asleep too.  Nardole started to wonder if Bill’s sleeping was somehow linked to the Doctor’s through some Time Lord trick or another.  But he didn’t have long to think about it, because when they got close to the house, Missy found them and seemed to want attention as well.

Nardole sent Alit inside.  He turned his attention on Missy.  “What do you want?”

“Well, none of us have been on this ship before.  There could have been wild animals out there waiting to eat you.”

“And you want to hear all about it, right?”

Missy tried and failed to look contrite.  “You can’t fault me for being curious.  After all, I don’t know what kinds of things you might attract.”

Nardole sighed heavily, he wanted to talk about anything but this.  “Story is you’ve spent a lot of time with the Doctor.  How is he?”

“He’s fine.  Still in his healing coma, so of course he’s fine.”

“And is it working?”

“You mean has the regeneration energy stopped?  Hard to tell.  The healing comas are pretty deep.  Sometimes all of our systems slow down so much, we can appear to be dead.  We won’t know if it’s helped or how much it’s helped until he wakes.”

Nardole sighed again, this time it sounded like defeat.  “I was afraid you were going to say something like that.  And how about your younger self.  Any word from him?”

“Not a peep and he’s too far out of range, in case you were going to ask.”

Nardole relaxed a little.  He was glad the Master was still gone.  He raised his hands in a placating manner.  “Wasn’t going to, but glad to know.”  Of course she could be lying, but it was pointless to press the issue. 

By this point, they had reached the house.  Nardole gestured.  “Why don’t you go on ahead.  I want to check on Bill.”

“You’re not the boss of me!”

“It was a recommendation, not an order.”

“Oh, well.  That’s all right, then.”  With a swish of her skirts as she turned, she headed off towards the house.

Nardole shook his head as he made his way to the barn.  It was still guarded, which he was both grateful for and disappointed in at the same time.  He was grateful because it meant Bill was as safe as she could be.  He was disappointed because he didn’t know if the guard was there to keep Missy out, or Bill in.  He nodded to the guard as he passed and then he entered the barn. 

As carefully as he could, he tiptoed over to the Cyberman’s prone form to look Bill over.  He pursed his lips as she slept on.  “Oh Bill, I don’t know what’s going to happen to any of us.  But if there’s any way to save you, I know the Doctor will do just that.”

He did some basic scans of her systems and satisfied, he left her and exited the barn.  When he was back on the lawn he took a deep breath as he looked up at the house.  He knew what to expect when he saw the Doctor, but that didn’t mean he was looking forward to it.

With an assured nod to himself, he made his way in.  He was on a mission now, so pretty much ignored everyone who tried to speak to him.  He didn’t stop his purposeful walk until he reached the Doctor’s room.  Then paused for a moment before opening the door.  Once inside, he closed the door and leant his back against it.  He took a long cleansing breath and then made his way to sit in the chair beside the bed.

“Well, I’m back, Sir.  Not that you missed me, probably, given the state you’re in.  Missy tells me you’re resting well.  I’m glad for that…”  He tapered off his monologue and just stared at the Doctor for a long time.

“It wasn’t as successful as I hoped, but I learned a few things.  And at least got Junior out of the way for a bit.  Missy says she can’t sense him.  I hope that means he’s still well out of range and not that she’s lying.” 

He went quiet again.  While he didn’t expect a response from the Doctor, he hoped for one.  None came.  He sighed and made some minor adjustments to the pillows under the Doctor’s head and the blankets that covered him.  “There you are, looking a bit more comfy now.”

He rested his hand on top of one of the Doctor’s.  “Well, you continue to rest, Sir, and don’t worry about anything, I’ve got it all covered until you wake up.”

He put more assurance into his tone than he actually felt.

When he exited the room, he found Hazran waiting for him.  She offered him a small smile.  “Oh, Nardole, you look like you could do with a proper rest.”  She saw Nardole was ready to protest, so she held up a hand to stop him.  “No, I don’t want any arguments.  The rest of the day we’re going to take care of you.  And I don’t want you worrying about anything or talking to anyone about anything you did or didn’t find.  First things first:  the kitchen.  I bet you’re famished.”

He couldn’t argue with that so he just nodded his head and followed her to the kitchen.  He sat at the table and waited for her to serve him.  Once she had done that, she sat down next to him with some of her sewing.  “Missy behaved herself while you were gone.  And the Doctor just slept.  We’ve been leaving him pretty much alone, since he looks peaceful.”

Nardole nodded and allowed Hazran to natter on, providing him of the updates from the past two days while he ate his food.  When he finished with that, she showed him to the bath house in which  a tub was filled with hot water.  He smiled.  “Oh I haven’t had one of these in ages it seems.”

Hazran nodded.  “I thought as much.  So you go ahead and take your time.  Dinner’s at Six tonight, but other than that, we have nothing planned for you for the rest of the day.”

Nardole managed a smile.  “Thank you.”

Hazran nodded and left him to his luxury.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay. Life happened and continues to happen. I promise I'm working on this and will continue to post though slowly.


	8. Chapter 8

A day and a half passed.  The Master wasn’t back yet, but Nardole noticed Missy was more on edge, so he figured it wouldn’t be long.  Nardole had been giving his own lessons to the children about safety and how they could best help in the days to follow.  Hazran was doing similar with the adults.  The Doctor was still in his healing sleep.  Things were progressing, but time was funny.  Everything felt like it was moving too fast and not fast enough at the same time.

Nardole had learned to put the Doctor out of his mind a bit.  He still worried about the Time Lord, but since there wasn’t anything he could do for him, it was silly to worry to the point of not focusing on everything else that needed to be done.  Knowing the Doctor, he was making plans in his sleep so when he woke, they would hit the ground running.  Nardole had to be ready.  He had to do the best he could to make sure everyone else was ready too.

Nardole wasn’t wrong about the Doctor.  His healing sleep wasn’t as deep as usual.  He was starting to formulate a plan as he rested.  His injuries were severe.  He would regenerate, there was no question about it.  But timing was everything and there was the possibility that he might be able to do some pretty incredible things mid-regeneration.

When he had just gotten his tenth body, he had lost his hand in the sword-fight with the Sycorax, but had been able to grow it back.  Then, later, after holding off his regeneration for far longer than he should have, given the amount of radiation pulsing through his body, when he had regenerated, it was quite, explosive.  That gave him a lot of options for how he could best help everyone now.  If he held off his regeneration energy long enough – if he could control the explosion of it, maybe he could take out all of the Cybermen at once.  Or maybe he could survive however they tried to kill him this time.  Worst case, he would die.  The Confession Dial had taught him that death wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to him.  So he had options.  Options were good.

When he wasn’t plotting and scheming, the Doctor dreamt.  This was the worst thing about trying to heal himself this way.  If he were in the Zero Room, he wouldn’t dream.  The TARDIS would prevent it.  That would have allowed him to enter fully into the rest he needed.  As it was,  his dreams – or nightmares – prevented him from getting the level of rest he needed.  It wasn’t unexpected, it just meant that he had to sleep longer than he had wanted.  He had hoped he would only sleep a few days.  But as vivid as the visions were, he knew it would have to be longer.

Being at any point within his regeneration process and having dreams was never good for him.  His regenerations had never gone well.  But then, none of his regenerations had been exactly ‘normal’ by Time Lord standards.  There were Time Lords who could easily go for several thousand years without regenerating once.  He had gone through eleven in that time.  Though, he still beat the Master.  Who had gone through all twelve regenerations and found ways to steal bodies and prolong his life. 

So in his sleep, he reflected on his regenerations.  His first regeneration had been closest to natural causes.  His body just couldn’t handle what the Cybermen had done to him.  And because it had been the most normal, his recovery time had been the shortest.  The second regeneration had been forced upon him by the Time Lords as punishment for his meddling in the affairs of Earth.  The third, due to the radiation from Metebelis Three.  The Fourth, he fell from the dish on Logopolis.  The Fifth was poison and he gave all the bat milk to save Peri.  He actually hadn’t been sure he would regenerate that time – the poison was damaging him far quicker than he had expected.  He doesn’t like to talk about the sixth time.  He fell and cracked his head on the console.  So embarrassing and quite unbecoming.  He had been shot in his seventh body.  But that wasn’t what killed him.  Grace had tried to perform a cardiac catheterization on him without understanding that he had two hearts.  The eighth…. Well things get tricky there.  He had died, but the Sisterhood of Karn had provided him with a potion.  Which isn’t the same as actual regeneration, they weren’t Time Lords, though they had originated on Gallifrey.  So the eighth, happened when he ended the Time War by using _The Moment_.  But even then, things get confusing, since he had gone back and not used the device… so now he wasn’t sure exactly how or why he regenerated.  Maybe he willed himself to change since he didn’t need to be that version of himself any longer…

Honestly, that was enough of that.  But his mind was not obeying him.  At least not in the way he had wanted.  No, it haunted him with experiences that were far more recent.  The question of 'Am I a good man' rose again and the memories toyed with his thoughts. When he fought the Half-Faced Man, even he wasn't sure if the man had jumped or if he had pushed him.  Rusty had looked into his very depths and found hatred.  He didn't know if he was a 'good man' or not and had hoped to find the answer by looking into his own eyes when he had touched Saibra and she transformed into him.  He was sadly left without an answer.  All of that was without a complete review of his life.

There was Bill.  He had wanted to save her, wanted to fix things and make them right, but he couldn't see his way out of it this time.  There were always consequences for most of the actions he took, but his companions and friends usually bared the brunt of them.   That created a despair within him that he couldn't quite fight.

River's words of "Without Hope. Without Witness.  Without reward" taunted him in a particular way.  He had said to Nyssa once, "Without hope, we'd all become monsters."

That made him think about the Master.  He'd had hope that Missy might finally be the turning point.  But the more time she spent with 'Junior', the less likely he felt he had accomplished anything with her.  If it was that easy for her to turn back, then what good had any time in the Vault accomplished?

That thought jolted him awake with a gasp.  He looked around him and didn't recognise the room he was in.  It took a few moments before he saw Nardole sitting next to the bed.  "Sir!"

The Doctor relaxed back into the pillow as he closed his eyes.  "Nardole."

The round man nodded in approval as the Doctor relaxed.  "Missy said you might be waking soon."  The Doctor only hummed for a moment in reply, so Nardole continued.  "The Master will probably be back soon as well.  She... seems to know these things about the two of you."

The Doctor nodded and slowly opened his eyes again.  "More about him than me, I think."

It was Nardole's turn to hum.  His was neither affirmative or negative, it was only an acknowledgement.  He watched the Doctor carefully and when he thought he was awake enough, he asked, "How are you feeling?"

The Doctor groaned softly at the question.  "Like I should have let myself regenerate already."  Nardole swallowed hard at that, but before he could answer, the Doctor went on.  "I don't have much time.  Maybe three days, if I'm very lucky."

He knew.  After hundreds of billions of deaths in the Confession Dial, he knew down to the minute, but he wasn't about to admit that to anyone. 

He pulled his hands down his face and then slowly tried to sit up.  Nardole moved forward to help him.  The round man helped to adjust the pillows while the Doctor basically sat forward and didn't do anything but wait.  Then when the pillows were in the best places, Nardole helped the Doctor to scoot up and rest against them.  He could only murmur his thanks at that point.

The Doctor rested against the pillows and took a deep breath.  "Yes, I think that's better. Has Missy said how far out the other is?"

Nardole shook his head.  "No, but she's anxious and was afraid to be around you by herself if you were unconscious."

The Doctor nodded.  "Close then, maybe a few hours.  Good.  So, what have you accomplished while I slept?"

Nardole looked confused and concerned at the same time.  "Doctor, are you sure you're ready?"

"No.  But time is pressing.  So, let's not waste it."

Nardole nodded and reached under the chair to pull up his laptop.  "I've been working on some ideas.  But the best, I think is to use the lifts to move the people to the next floor, then attract the Cybermen to this floor, then when enough of them are here, we blow the whole thing."

The Doctor nodded.  "Show me."

With that, Nardole started going over the schematics with the Doctor.

Several hours later, Hazran came in with a meal and kicked Nardole out to the protests of the Doctor.  She then helped the Doctor to adjust so that he was reclining enough to rest but not so far that he couldn't eat the soup she was planning to spoon-feed him.  He tried to argue with her about that as well, but the stern expression she gave him stopped him from saying anything more.

Hazran was quiet for a few spoonfuls.  Then she spoke quietly.  “It’s funny.  You’ve been here all this time, I feel like I know you.  But that can’t be right since you’ve been asleep all this time.”

The Doctor considered her for a long moment and then nodded.  “So, you have questions.  I’ll answer what I can.”

She hummed.  “That creature in the barn….”

He nodded.  “My friend, Bill.  I’m hoping she’ll sleep awhile longer yet.  I don’t think she knows what’s happened to her.  And I’d rather not tell her, if I don’t have to.”

“But she’s like a metal version of those other things.”

The Doctor nodded again.  “I know, but she doesn’t and that will keep her and all of us safe.  Just, if she wakes before I’m strong enough, keep her in the barn, try to convince her to rest, and don’t tell her what she is.”

Hazran nodded.  She gave him the last spoonful of soup when there was a loud commotion from the front of the house.  “Where’s the Doctor?  I know he’s awake!  Where is he?”

Hazran looked at the Doctor with a worried expression.  They could hear Nardole’s voice trying to stay the Master.  “Now, just you wait a minute!  He might have gone back to sleep.”

The Doctor sighed heavily and offered a small shrug in Hazran’s direction.  He called out, “It’s all right, Nardole.  He can come through to discuss the plans.”

Nardole glared at the Master, but gave a nod to the Time Lord and escorted him towards the Doctor’s room.  Hazran was coming out as they entered.  Nardole took station at the edge of the Doctor’s bed and gestured for the Master to sit.

“Oh, look fatsy thinks he can protect you.  As if he would be any competition for me.”

The Doctor glared at the other Time Lord until he sat and Nardole just crossed his arms.  The torments from Missy had toughened him up a bit.  Finally the Doctor spoke.  “You want out of here.  And you want out alive.  So does everyone here.  Therefore, tomorrow morning, you will go out with Missy and look for the lift shafts.  We’ll need access to them, but they weren’t listed on the schematics.”

The Master raised an eyebrow.  “Just like that?  You’re going to let the two of us go off on our own?”

The Doctor nodded.  “I’m too weak to go searching myself.”

“And if you send both of us, we’re out of your hair.  How do you know you can trust us.”

“Because I have something you don’t.”

The Master tilted his head and gave him an expression that said “What’s that?”

The Doctor offered a grin.  “A plan.  A plan devised by me.”

Later that night, Hazran took a blanket out to the barn for Bill as Alit watched…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read, commented, and offered kudos on this fic.


End file.
